Chapter 54 Dealing with the richest man in the world is refreshing
With Fang Kongzhen's full support, after returning to Wuchang, the constraints on Shen Shuren's continued implementation of civil farming were basically eliminated.
His team of close civilian officials and staff are not vegetarians either. Those servants of the Shen family who are good at financial management and engineering are also working hard and have been placed in various positions with real power but no rank by Shen Shuren. Seed lending in winter, construction of water conservancy projects , piling up polder fields, digging deep fish ponds...all progressing in an orderly manner.
Tens of thousands of money and food are passed through every day, but under the governance of the Shen family, the signs of corruption are much better than when local governments in Wuchang and other places were autonomous. After all, the family came from a wealthy businessman and was talented in accounting. .
If all goes well, even if there are floods and droughts next year, Wuchang and Hanyang will be able to handle it relatively well. The increase in grain production brought about by the new polder fields is estimated to reach more than 10% of the total grain output.
Coupled with the subsidies for teaching people to raise tilapia and Qingjiang fish, and the increase in income from corn and potatoes equivalent to 30 to 40% of the original total grain production (the area for growing corn in the south is small, so the absolute value of the total increase will not be too high) ,
These two prefectures will ensure that the people have enough food and clothing, and then reorganize the displaced foreigners into soldiers and serve as corvees. It should not be a big problem, and they can even save some more food for future wars.
At the turn of the 14th and 15th years of Chongzhen's reign, the area around Wuchang Prefecture was already an area with a large number of refugees from the north and the south. Historically, Zuo Liangyu later claimed to have an army of 800,000, mainly because of Wuchang's geographical location, the thoroughfare of nine provinces, and The water transport hub where the Yangtze River and Han River meet,
People in the north will go south if they can't survive. When they get here, they will regroup and look for a way out. If they can find a way to survive in Wuchang, they generally won't deliberately continue to travel further.
If you take power here, as long as you have enough food, you can raise an army. As the situation worsens and the number of refugees increases, even if you don't pay the military, as long as you give them food, there will be a lot of people willing to serve. .
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After arranging the work of agriculture and food, Chen Shuren can finally have his hands free to deal with industry, military industry and diplomatic strategy in the last two months of winter.
After the whole territory of Wuchang has settled down and is properly taken over, it is necessary to develop Daye Iron Mountain, comprehensively improve military production capacity, and supplement the supply of steel and coal in the upper reaches of the industrial chain. Moreover, the priority is still on building new guns and artillery. .
Only with an industrial foundation and better and more sufficient steel can we have better guns. Otherwise, simply optimizing the design with clever tricks on the mechanical structure will ultimately be nothing but water without a source.
What's more, Chen Shuren still has time. If you haven't changed, there are still two years and five months before Chongzhen's death. This winter and next year, we should focus on the development of metallurgy, which can be regarded as sharpening the sword and chopping firewood.
However, before making all these farming plans, Shen Shuren still has one external matter that must be dealt with first - this matter actually does not take him much time, and he does not need to keep an eye on it personally. He just has to arrange it first and let his subordinates Keep following up.
So, on the ninth day of November, a few days after returning to Wuchang, a subordinate who had been urgently summoned by Shen Shuren rushed to Wuchang after a long journey and came to visit him.
It was Zheng Chenggong who had been left by him at the border of Huangzhou and Jiangxi to collect taxes. Zheng Chenggong had been an official for more than half a year and was still at the seventh rank. This time Shen Shuren took the opportunity to let him do some activities and find a way to get promoted again. Some.
Zheng Chenggong still has great respect for Shen Shuren. After all, it was Shen Shuren who took him to Nanjing to enter the Imperial College, and later took care of him all the way. Now he is his immediate boss and still takes care of his future.
So if Shen Shuren wants to do something, it is basically just a word of instruction. It can help the Zheng family advance in the officialdom, and the conditions are easy to negotiate.
Chen Shuren was not polite to him, and arranged a banquet of wine in the Daotai Yamen. As soon as they met, they sat down and drank together.
After drinking for three rounds, I got straight to the point:
"I have collected lijin for the past six months and thoroughly investigated Jiang Fang. I have done a good job. I have also read the accounts. It is true that you are not an official for money. I like to deal with wealthy families in this regard. It saves worry. There is no need to fight with flies and dogs.
In the past two months, I have also reviewed your records of illegal merchant ships. You have done a good job. We must continue to strengthen this aspect. Until the spring of next year, intercepting illegal merchant ships will be more important than tax inspections. important."
"Don't worry, brother, I will do whatever you say." Zheng Chenggong was unambiguous and agreed first, then asked for the reason, "But, can you ask why? I won't ask if it's inconvenient to say."
Of course, Chen Shuren had no need to hide anything, he told the truth from the bottom of his heart:
"According to my investigation in the past two years, ever since Liu Xiyao, Lin Chengcheng and others took up residence in the Yinghuo Mountain Area, their troops and horses have been unable to rely on the output of the mountainous area to be self-sufficient. The Yinghuo Mountainous Area is barren, and there are many materials that cannot be obtained in the mountainous area. produce.
Therefore, every winter, the Gezuo Fifth Battalion had to rely on the rivers in the north of the Yangtze River that originated from the Yinghuo Mountains and flowed into the Yangtze River. They sent small boats disguised as legitimate business travelers to use the gold and silver property obtained from previous plunder to purchase necessary survival supplies in Jiangxi. .
When you collect gold in the future, you will mainly focus on these fleets that go to Jiangxi with no cargo, but mainly carry precious money such as gold, silver, brocade, etc., but can be loaded with cheap daily necessities on the return trip.
Moreover, the ships in this kind of fleet are often very small, not long-distance river ships. Because the small rivers flowing out of Yingshan are generally shallow and fast, large ships cannot pass. Therefore, you should stop all those that meet these characteristics, and stop them first. It will take three months for Lin to grow up and starve to death, so that I can perform the forced landing. After this is accomplished, you will be promoted to the same magistrate of the prefecture. In the future, you can even be promoted to the magistrate with some merit.
I won’t hide it from you. I plan to put this credit to great use. I will eat more than one fish and share the benefits so that Zhang Tongzhi from Huangzhou will be promoted to the prefecture and Fang Tongzhi from Anqing will also be promoted to the prefecture. They will be surrounded by land respectively. The pursuit, and the final success in persuading surrender and incorporation.
However, Lin Chengcheng was not a big fish after all. It took two prefects and one co-prefect, or even three prefects, to take this credit, which was really not enough.
Fortunately, Mr. Yang Ge is very grateful to me now. Chen Xinjia and Chen Shangshu in the capital are also disciples and former officials of Mr. Yang Ge, and he still accepts my kindness. If more money is spent outside the law, it is still possible... …”
Shen Shuren has also been short of money recently. He works as an official and engages in local construction. Later, he will also engage in industry and military industry. Money is indeed a bit scarce.
I received a letter from my family saying that there has been a large amount of new business in the past few months, but the initial investment is relatively large, and it will take until after the Chinese New Year to see the inflow of large amounts of real money.
Therefore, Shen Shuren still hopes to borrow more external resources for some gray expenditures with unclear accounts.
To put it bluntly, it means giving money to other courtiers to entrust relationships. It is best to use other people's money to do other people's things and bring in some personal goods for yourself.
Although Zheng Chenggong was young and had not been polluted by society, the Zheng family had been sending large sums of money to the capital every year since they were adopted by Xiong Wencan in the second year of Chongzhen. Zheng Chenggong was not surprised.
At that moment, he was also very wise, and he actually said with ease: "I heard that the starting price for an eighth-grade official is 5,000 taels, and the actual power of a county magistrate is tens of thousands taels. The prefecture is probably more than a hundred thousand taels, and there must be a reason.
We were promoted this time due to merit. Brother Zhang counts as one hundred thousand, Brother Fang also counts as one hundred thousand, I will give you these two sums, two hundred thousand taels, can you solve everything?"
Shen Shuren breathed a sigh of relief, his face looked much better, and his expression and tone when talking to Zheng Chenggong were as warm as those with his own brother:
"That's enough, that's enough. You are still too young. I can only work with you as a prefect this time. If there is a chance, I will push you to become a prefect, then I will add another hundred thousand taels."
If I have other merits in the future, when I become a governor or even a governor, I will inevitably help you run an army. We are friends in times of need and poverty, and we have a future as brothers, so naturally you will be indispensable."
Zheng Chenggong was also unambiguous and began to directly ask about the operation method: "Will the money be sent to Wuchang?"
Chen Shuren was stunned. He didn't expect that the other party would go straight to this job. They were indeed the richest family in the Ming Dynasty with an annual income of more than ten million taels. They threw out two hundred thousand taels without batting an eye.
"No, send 50,000 taels to Nanjing. Those around Shi Kefa and the Nanjing Ministry of War will also take care of them. In addition, after hearing that Yang Ge was seriously ill, His Majesty has ordered Zhou Yanru to be summoned to recover. It is estimated that he will go to Beijing by the end of the year. Okay. Let's take care of it first while he's heading north from Nanjing.
The bulk of the remaining 150,000 taels can be put in the capital and given directly to Chen Shangshu. Although promotion is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, we can be considered a promotion due to military merit. We need the Ministry of War to verify the merit first, so let Chen Xinjia help as well. We're done."
Shen Shuren is also very well-informed about the personnel changes of the top leaders in the DPRK and China, so he knows exactly which docks to visit.
Historically, Yang Sichang died in March of the 14th year of Chongzhen. Zhou Yanru was resurrected by Chongzhen in April and was delayed until September before entering Beijing.
Now the incident with Yang Sichang only happened in June, so the emperor's summons to Zhou Yanru was delayed by three months. It is estimated that he will not arrive in Beijing until the first month of next year.
Zhou Yanru can be regarded as a legend in the Chongzhen Dynasty. He served as the first assistant twice. In the middle, he was criticized by Wen Tiren and resigned for six years. In the end, he was still able to come back after Wen Tiren died.
Because Zhou was from Yixing County, Changzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili Province, so in the past few years of his layoff, he had returned to his hometown in Changzhou or lived in Nanjing. Now that he was called, he had to go north from Nanjing.
Chen Shuren also thought that if he wanted to return to Nanjing for activities during the Chinese New Year, he could pay his respects to the dock and make more friends with the powerful people in Beijing.
Now he has two major foreign aids, Chen Xinjia, the Minister of the Ministry of War, and Jiang Dejing, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. If he can establish a good relationship with Zhou Yanru, who is about to become the first assistant and the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Chongzhen can also get more court resources in the last two years.
As soon as Zheng Chenggong heard that Brother Shen was capable of entertaining Zhou Yanru in Nanjing, he was even more willing to spend money. He directly said that regardless of whether his prefect could come down, he would add another hundred thousand taels.
"...Then the matter is settled. No matter what year I get promoted, the money will be given to me first. Big brother, you spend the 300,000 taels first. I'll have people prepare 150,000 taels in each of the northern and southern capitals.
Let’s not talk about it outside. It is indeed not very honorable to spend money to do things. But in these troubled times, my eldest brother and I are both people who do serious things. Only when we have power can we legitimately contribute to the country. This is also for the sake of the world.